The Four Year Itch
by HP Fan four
Summary: The story of two couples - Ron is alone in Muggle London, stranded, hungry, lost - until Hermione find him and romance blooms. R/H and very heavy on the H/G as well. CHAPTER SIX!!!!!!!
1. An Unexpected Reunion

A/N This is like the third time I'm uploading this story. It's definitely my favourite, and every time I re-read it 

I think of a way of making it even better. So no, I haven't nicked anyone's ideas, this is all my own, for the third time.

Enjoy and review!áñ"ã 

Chapter One - An Unexpected Reunion.

Ron sighed as he settled himself down again on the rough cobbled pavement. For the umpteenth time that morning he had scanned the dark alleyway he was staying in for a softer, more sheltered spot, but once again, his search was in vain. Ron pulled his knees to him and rested his chin on his folded arms, thinking of what he was doing here, in a dank side street in Muggle London, disconnected from his friends, family and the rest of the Wizarding world.

It was Malfoy, he thought bitterly. Malfoy was responsible for the loss of everything Ron valued and loved in life, and had gone so far as even to deprive Ron of his owl, Pig. Malfoy had ridded Ron of the thing that meant most to him in the world - Muggle and Wizarding - and that was Hermione. He had had so many plans, so many mental scripts of what and how he would tell her what he really felt for her, how he would expose the feelings of deepest love that had been locked and hidden in his heart for eight years. 

What Ron wouldn't give now for any sign of a friendly face, a signal or sign from the Wizarding world, a note or something - anything- from his family or Harry or Hermione. But Ron knew he was wishing for the impossible (or so it seemed); he hadn't heard from or seen the rest of the Weasleys or his two best friends for four years. Four long, lonely years of poverty and struggling for survival. 

Ron shivered as a chilly breeze raced down the alley. I'll get you for this, Malfoy, he swore silently to himself. You'll see, I'll get you back if it's the last thing I do....

Hermione walked down Victoria Street of London with her head and spirits held high. She had had one of the most successful days since she had been promoted from secretary of the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures to the Head of the House-Elf Liberation Department, which the Ministry of Magic had let her start herself. She had succeeded in raising the Hogwarts house-elves' wages by thirteen per cent that morning, and freed an abused elf from the Flint family. 

As she crossed the main road and passed through a side-street, she spotted a pathetic-looking figure, apparently a beggar, sitting with his face in his arms in a damp corner of the alley. Close to, she saw he was about her age - no older than twenty-three or twenty-four. Hermione was in such a good mood, she decided to try brightening someone else's day, too and opened her handbag in search of some loose change. 

Ron looked up as a shadow fell over him. In front of him stood the most beautiful girl he had ever laid his eyes on. She looked around his age, early twenties, with long, chest-length glossy wavy brown hair, a perfect little nose, pale pink lips and heart-stopping caramel-coloured eyes, currently fixed on her handbag as she fumbled inside it, apparently searching for something. She looked maddeningly familiar, but Ron couldn't see how she could possibly be the person he thought she was. It was mad. It couldn't possibly be her.........could it? As the girl moved around the contents of her bag, a sheet of paper fell out of it and landed on the cobbled pavement, though the girl didn't appear to have noticed. As Ron gazed straight at her eyes trying to determine if they were the same, they suddenly gleamed with success as the distinct jingle of coins came from the depths of the bag. The girl grabbed the first coin she touched, tossed it to Ron, gave him an encouraging smile and turned away. Ron stared after her. What was he thinking? There must be millions of girls in London, why was he even hoping to find her? Ron looked down at the coin the girl gave him and his jaw dropped. In the palm of his dirty hand, was a large gold coin, one he hadn't seen for four years - a Galleon! Ron spotted the paper the girl had dropped, lying on the damp pavement, picked it up and gasped. At the top of the sheet were the words:

The British Ministry of Magic

Then in smaller writing were the words: 

The Department for the Liberation and Rights of House-Elves. 

Ron's eyes scanned the document until his eyes fell on the signature of the Head of Department at the bottom of the page, in the neatest handwriting Ron had ever seen, the unmistakable handwriting of.....

"Hermione!" he called hoarsely at the retreating back of the girl, currently halfway down the street. 

The girl turned around. She spotted the beggar looking directly at her. How did HE know her name? She thought, bewildered as she retraced her steps back to him, she didn't know any beggars. She didn't know anyone in this part of the city, so who....? 

Her questions were cut short as she felt her stomach plummet several inches as she recognised the document in the beggar's hand, which, judging by the look on his face, he had obviously read. Muggles weren't supposed to know about the Ministry of Magic or anything about the Wizarding world. Her spirits slipped even more as she saw the Galleon she had foolishly given him without checking the currency first. Supposing she did a Memory Charm on him? But magic was only supposed to be done in the Muggle world under urgent circumstances, and this beggar can't have any friends or family to tell or else he wouldn't be here, and if he did, who'd believe him?

"Here, Hermione," said the man. "You dropped this."

He handed her the paper, then tossed the Galleon to her and added, "and this won't be much use outside Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade, and I'm nowhere near either place. Thanks, anyway. It's the thought that counts...."

Hogsmeade? Diagon Alley? How would HE know about these places? Unless he was a.....

"Do I know you?" Hermione asked, before she could stop herself.

"You could say that," came the reply, with a small smile. "Or you did. So...." his eyes fell on the document Hermione was holding, half in half out of her handbag. "....finally got 'Spew' into power, then, eh?"

"It's not spew, it's S. P. - " Hermione began automatically, then gasped and said "RON?!"

"Knew we'd get there in the end," said Ron, grinning. 

Hermione stared. It WAS Ron, but he looked nothing like the Ron she remembered. His face was thin, sunken and starved-looking. His freckles were hidden under all of the dirt on his face. His hair was messy and only in a few places was the original Weasley red hair visible, as the most of it was so filthy it turned the brownish-grey colour of dust. Over his sunken cheeks and thin chin was a thin layer of short brownish orange bristles. He was wearing a set of wizard robes, but they were so frayed and filthy that no Muggle was in any danger of spotting the outlandish clothing. These robes were ripped enough to show some extremely bony arms and legs, and a very thin chest. Yet under all the obvious starvation, mucky fringe, unshaven face and dirty skin, were the same eyes and the same smile Hermione recalled only too well- it was the smile that had captured her heart at Hogwarts, though no one knew at the time (or did now) except Ginny, to whom Hermione generally told everything.

"Ron, you look terrible!" said Hermione, voicing the first thing that came to mind.

Ron's grin grew wider. "Unlike you, Hermione. You're looking as beautiful and as glamorous as ever."

Hermione didn't return the smile. She was too shocked and anxious to smile. 

"What are you doing here, in Muggle London in this state?" she asked, horrified. "You were an Auror for the Ministry when you last wrote to me."

Ron's smile faded. "Yeah, well, that was four years ago," he sighed. "A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then, I can tell you."

"What happened to you?"

Ron sighed again. "Long story."

"I've got time," lied Hermione. In fact, she had to be back at the Ministry office soon, but she was determined to make time for this. After four years of constantly beating herself down for not revealing her feelings for him when she had the chance and after all those years of being sick with apprehension about what could have happened to him, there was no way she would turn this opportunity down, even if it meant she lost a pay rise for being late for work. 

A low rumble rent the chilly early afternoon air. It may well have been thunder, as the clouds were rapidly conquering the sky, but the rumble sounded much closer....

"Ron, is that your stomach?"

Ron stared down at his skinny, noisy belly. "Yep. I don't know why it keeps growling like that. I keep it pretty well fed."

Judging by the starved look on his face and the increase in the volume of his stomach's roars, it was rather obvious he wasn't being entirely truthful.

"When did you last eat?" Hermione inquired.

"I found some cold chips outside a fish-and-chips shop on Monday night," replied Ron, shrugging.

"Monday night?" gasped Hermione. "Ron, it's Thursday!!!!"

"I know that."

"You - you mean to tell me you haven't eaten for three days?" 

Ron faked a contented smile full of fake satisfaction that didn't fool Hermione in the slightest. "I'm not complaining."

"Oh, Ron, this is ridiculous!" snapped Hermione, shocked that a few cold chips in three days was considered satisfactory. "Look, let me get you some lunch - a proper meal. Then you can tell me everything that happened." 

Ron felt rather uncomfortable about this. In eight years of being insanely in love with Hermione - three in Hogwarts, five out (four of which he had gone without seeing or hearing from her) - he had wanted nothing more than to take Hermione out for a meal or a date, and here she was taking him out. However, with another growl, his stomach reminded him that unless he swallows his pride and takes up the offer, he won't be swallowing anything for a while.

Hermione extended a small, delicate, graceful hand and Ron took it with his large, dirty scabbed one and Hermione pulled him to his feet. Neither Ron nor Hermione really wanted to release the grip on each other's hand, but since the feelings were yet to be exposed, the hands parted as they both headed for the nearest restaurant.

A/N There WILL be a continuation to this! Please review!!!!


	2. Ron's Story

Chapter Two- Ron's Story

Ten minutes later, Hermione and Ron had seated themselves in the nearest burger bar and Ron had been supplied with more food than he had had in the past four years put together - chips (warm this time), onion rings, salad, burgers, sausages, ketchup ad a few bottles of lemonade. Ron wasted no time in piling as much as he could of it into his mouth in case it was a mirage and everything disappeared. Ron attracted some funny looks from the other customers and the staff because of his clothes and dirty face, but he took no notice.

Hermione watched him with a mixture of two very powerful feelings. The first was concern : what had this poor man been through over the last four years? Was he in such a terrible state he couldn't even afford to write, even once a year? And, she thought, eyeing his very thin chest and bony arms, just how little HAD he eaten? Was finding a few cold chips three nights ago considered lucky for him? Was he really serious when he said he was used to it? Hermione watched him tearing at his bun and chewing it hurriedly. He's eating like he's never seen food in his life, she thought to herself. Then she reminded herself (and felt even more desperately sorry for him) that this was probably how he felt.

The other emotion was a familiar one. It was the same twanging at her heartstrings she felt every night as she lay on her bed for hours, gazing dreamily and anxiously at the photo of Ron she kept on her bedside table. It was the same wonderful light-headed feeling that nothing else in the world mattered she often felt when Ron used to write to her during their first year out of Hogwarts and the same jolt in her heart she always got when she was in his company. She knew her parents thought she was being foolish, clinging faithfully to her love for Ron even after four years of lost touch, but she took no notice. Somehow, she'd always known her feelings for Ron wouldn't be easy to shake off. 

"So," said Hermione, unable to contain herself any longer. "What's the story? How did you go from being one of the Ministry's best Aurors to, well, what you are now."

Ron swallowed the mouthful of chips he was chewing and grinned. "You mean a tramp."

Hermione was too eager for an explanation to correct him.

"Well," said Ron, swallowing the onion ring he had thrown into his mouth whole. "As you know, the year after you, Harry and I left Hogwarts I became an Auror. I don't know why I went for that job. I suppose I just didn't want office work like Dad and Percy. Well, it took me a while to get into it, but pretty soon I got the hang of it and managed to round up quite a few of the Ministry's trickiest Death Eaters."

"Anyone I know?" Hermione asked, smiling.

"Oh, yes." Ron's grin grew wider. "Most of the Slytherin House Quidditch Team if you remember them : Derrick, Bole, Puecy, Montague, Warrington, Flint...."

"Flint? Oh, I freed their house-elf today," Hermione remembered. Ron smiled at her.

"I was doing pretty well. I got quite a few interviews and pictures in the Daily Prophet and some people reckon I was the most successful Auror the Ministry's seen since the great Mad-Eye Moody himself."

Ron's ears went pink with a kind of embarrassed pride. Hermione was glad Ron had something to be proud of in a life of being overshadowed by many more successful brothers.

"Aurors get pretty well paid, too," Ron went on. "So after almost a year of hard work I bought myself my own flat. Nothing fancy, but just right for me. I was dying for you and Harry to come and see it. For the first time in my life I felt...... special. I wasn't just another Weasley, I was good at my job and got the recognition for it…I'd never felt special before. I was always just Weasley number six or Harry's sidekick…"

"Oh, Ron, don't be silly," Hermione said soothingly. "You've always been a VERY special person - to me" she added, though not as quietly as she would have liked, because Ron stared at her.

Had Hermione just said what he thought - and desperately hoped - she said? Did she really mean...? No! Ron's natural characteristic pessimism caught up with him. No, she didn't. All she meant was that he was a very good, close friend of hers and that she enjoyed their friendship at Hogwarts and after, that's all. He was quite sure Harry would have said the same. Or would he? Harry wouldn't have said Ron was SPECIAL to him. He would have told Ron he was a great, terrific friend or that he was a mate, but special to him? On the other hand, what was he thinking? He was a filthy vagabond and she was the same beautiful pure Hermione she had always been, probably happily married with a couple of kids and a handsome burly husband….Why did he even think she….?

Hermione went slightly pink at her last words, so to cover the silence, she asked, "So, what went wrong? If you were doing so well, I mean."

Ron's pride and grin vanished. His face contorted with a mixture of mental pain and boiling inward fury.

"I'll tell you what went wrong," he growled. "My dream come true became a nightmare."

"What dream was that?"

Ron took a steadying breath then said, "What I wanted more than anything else in the world, and that was probably why I went for the Auror job in the first place, was to catch Malfoy and put him in Azkaban."

This was a lie, of course; Capturing Malfoy was only Ron's second dearest wish - his first was Hermione's love, but he wasn't going to tell her that. Well, not yet, anyway.

"So - so you caught him, then?"

"Oh, I caught him all right," the note of pride was distinguishable once more in Ron's voice. "I spotted Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle performing the Cruciatus Curse on an old Muggle. I managed to Stun them before they even saw me, did a Memory Charm on the Muggle, then took the three of them back to the Ministry."

"And?" Hermione prompted eagerly.

"And they were arrested. They snapped their wands in half and disposed of the pieces. Then they sat in Azkaban for about a week until the Ministry could clear a date for their trial. Best part of my career, that was. Until the trial that is," Ron added, his pride fading once more.

"Why, what happened?"

"On the day of the trial, I saw Malfoy knocking out this Ministry wizard and grabbing his wand. I was asked to come to the trial, of course, but I didn't have any time to report Malfoy again. I was convinced he'd get his fair share in Azkaban anyway."

"And did he?"

"Nope."(Hermione looked shocked) "No, he pulled out this wand he stole, used a Summoning Charm on the judges and lawyers to get their papers, changed all the documents and prosecution and evidence and everything. Then he did Memory Charms on the jury, judges and lawyers so they'd forget they saw him do it. In fact, they forgot everything. When they looked at their notes and papers they were convinced I was the defendant, that I did the Cruciatus Curse and that I was using my new-found power as an Auror to bear schoolboy grudges on poor, innocent people like him. They fished out a load of Death Eaters I caught from Azkaban because of this. All the evidence was suddenly against me and Malfoy conjured up some more on the spot. He was set free along with most of the Death Eaters I spent the year rounding up, and before he left the court he yelled "I'll get you back for that week in Azkaban, Weasley! Mark my words, you'll pay for it!" Well, I paid for it, all right. By rights I should have been sent to Azkaban myself, but instead, they blew up my wand, confiscated my flat, my savings, all my money, fired me from my job and did a good few Memory Charms on me so I'd have trouble finding help. Good job Pig was out hunting that night or they'd have taken him, too."

Hermione's mouth was wide open, as Ron took a sip from his lemonade in a morose sort of way. When she found her voice she asked, "Well, if you had Pigwidgeon, why didn't you write to us for help?"

Ron's expression turned ever sadder at this. "Well," his voice trembled slightly. "Pig didn't last too long. I couldn't afford to feed him enough, and the food I could afford wasn't the right stuff for him. Pretty soon he became ill, too ill to hunt for himself, and eventually I had to hand him over to the nearest RSPB bird sanctuary. I don't know what's happened to him since."

"But - but why didn't you go home?" Hermione asked.

"I told you, the Magical Law Enforcement lot did a load of Memory Charms on me. I didn't have a clue WHERE The Burrow was, or how to get to Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade or to Harry's place or yours or even Hogwarts. I couldn't go anywhere you might find a witch or a wizard. And they modified my memory so I'd forget how to Apparate as well."

"So what did you do?"

"Just wandered from one shelter to another. I passed through alleyways, the quieter parts of the Underground, parks, abandoned sheds....anywhere that might help me make it through a sleety night or a rainstorm without catching pneumonia."

Hermione felt too sorry for Ron to be able to think of anything to say to him. Ron finished his food in silence. Then he looked up at Hermione and wondered if she WAS spoken for after all. Before he could stop himself, he found himself blurting, "Hermione, are you married?"

Hermione, whose beautiful face had been in her hands, looked up, surprised. "No, no I'm not, why - "

"Are you engaged?" Ron went on, before he lost his nerve.

"No...."

"Are you seeing anyone? Have you got a boyfriend?"

"No, Ron, there isn't anyone," she replied softly. "There never has been, not since Viktor and I haven't had my eye on anyone since I…" 

Hermione caught herself just in time to stop herself blundering on to reveal her true feelings for Ron. Ron was staring at her with what looked like a desperately hopeful look in his eyes, so she looked around for subject to take them off the one they were on.

"It's raining," she said, glancing out of the window.

"Is it?" said Ron, sending his gaze to window as well. "Blimey, I'd better get back to the alley and straighten out the cardboard awning so my dry spot doesn't flood." 

He made to get up, but spotted Hermione goggling at him, a disbelieving expression on her face. "Don't tell me you thinking of going back to that - that side-street again? In this weather?"

Ron shrugged and replied grinning, "that's home sweet home."

"Oh, Ron, this is ridiculous!" said Hermione, standing up, too. "You can't go back there. Come home with me."

Ron was sure there was something wrong with his ears. "Sorry?"

"Come home with me," Hermione repeated. She looked determined. "You can stay with us for a while. Mum and Dad won't mind, they'll be dying to meet you again. Last time they saw you, your dad and Lucius Malfoy had that fight in Flourish and Blotts in our second year, remember?"

Ron still looked doubtful, so she added, "Oh, come on, Ron. Please?"

Ron grinned. "Your mum and dad won't want me in the house. You don't know where I've been. I might tear up the furniture, or give you all rabies."

Hermione didn't find this very funny. "You know that's not true. Mum and Dad'll love you….. though not as much as I do or ever will," she added, but this time she made sure she kept her voice down, so no one but herself could hear. "Is that a yes?"

Ron looked at her determined face and felt there was nothing he wanted more in the world than to spend some more time with Hermione, and there was definitely no better way than to do so than to live under the same roof for a while. After the past four years, he felt he could really do with some friendly company, Hermione's especially. It would give him plenty of chances to tell her what he really felt for her too, if and when the time was right. 

"Yeah, all right," he said, his thin, unshaven face breaking into a grin that made Hermione's heart stand still.

"Fantastic! You just wait, Ron, in a few days' time you won't even recognise yourself. A good few meals, a few good nights in a proper bed with a proper roof over your head, and you'll be a new man. Then we'll get you a new wand and go down to the Ministry and see if we can get your job back."

Ron doubted the last bit, but the rest of it - with Hermione's company to cap it all - sounded too good to be true. 

Hermione paid at the till, then the two of them left the burger bar, both privately feeling that things could only improve from here......

A/N Next chapter is all H/G, then chapter four'll be back to the R/H. Bear with me – the two stories'll tie in together. Even if you don't like Harry/Ginny, just…read it, okay? It should be up soon.

Oh, and review!!!!!!!!!!!


	3. Another Unexpected Reunion

Chapter Three - Another Unexpected Reunion.

Harry climbed another flight of stairs, turned another corner, reached another corridor and groaned. He leaned against the nearest wall, catching his breath and running his fingers through his hair, which had become distinctly tidier since he left Hogwarts. There was no denying it - he was lost. It suddenly struck him how ironic and embarrassing the situation was : the Captain and Seeker of the Nation England Quidditch Team, winner of the last two World Cups couldn't even find his way to the Department of Magical Games and Sports. Well, it wasn't his fault the stupid Ministry of Magic office building was built in such a confusing way. All the corridors and offices looked the same. If Harry didn't know better he would have thought he had entered a hall of mirrors.

Harry sighed and looked up. A sign above his head read "The Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures Wing." Hey! he thought, Hermione's House-Elf Department should be around here somewhere, he could just pop into her office and ask her for directions. She was bound to know where the Magical Games and Sports Department was. He'd never visited Hermione at work, but he was sure she wouldn't mind. He made his way down the corridor keeping a close eye out for any more signs or notices that might point him the direction of Hermione's office. A door to Harry's left opened and a young woman walked out, her arms full of files, one of which she seemed deeply immersed in as she crossed the hallway, reading it through her rimless reading glasses. She hadn't noticed Harry, nor had he noticed her, until they collided, sending Harry tumbling backwards onto the thinly-carepted floor, amid a blizzard of documents and papers which had all escaped from the girl's arms and were fluttering gently onto the ground like overlarge snowflakes. 

"Sorry about that," Harry said, shaking himself slightly, while fumbling around for his glasses, which had flown off in the confusion.

"No, **_I'm sorry," said the girl, sounding it, too. "It's my fault. Are all ri -"_**

She stopped in mid sentence as she locked her eyes on Harry's face. No, she wasn't looking at his scar like everyone else always did, but at his eyes. As she took in his dazzlingly bright lime-green eyes she uttered a small gasp.

"Harry?" she whispered.

Harry looked up, surprised, and beheld the fuzzy outline of a petite, slender, green-robed woman with long flowing crimson hair standing over him. Hardly daring to believe it, Harry's hand found his glasses, and as he placed them awkwardly on the bridge of his nose, the figure of Ginny Weasley came into sharper focus. She was gazing at him in disbelief, holding her rimless glasses in one hand and a now empty folder in the other. 

Unsure what to do next, Harry stood up, adjusting his glasses and stared back, a flurry of jumbled emotions racing through his heart as he did. For a moment, they merely stared into each other's eyes, both equally bemused. A small twinkle sparkled in Harry's eyes and a moment later, Ginny had flung her arms around his neck pulling him into a very warm hug. Harry's heart raced, though he felt slightly uncomfortable hugging Ginny like this, when after dating her for his last three years at Hogwarts, he'd gone a further five years with hardly visiting her between his travels, yet he still loved her more than ever, something he could only explain to himself. 

"I missed you, Harry," she said softly. 

"I missed you, too, Gin," he replied, trying to keep the uneasiness out of his voice. He wished he knew the sense in which Ginny had missed him - as a friend of the family or as her boyfriend - her tone was neutral and could have pointed either way.

They held their hug for a few seconds longer, then Harry asked, "what are you doing here?"

Ginny slowly broke away from their embrace and smiled. "This is it, this is my work-place, 'House-Elf Liberation Department'."

Harry grinned. "So you're working with Hermione, I take it?"

"Yep. Well, you know we've always been good friends, Hermione and me, and she knew I was having trouble finding a job, so when she was granted permission to start this department, she asked me if I wanted to join. We've been working together ever since."

A slightly awkward pause followed, as Harry bit his lip and Ginny fiddled with her files, both trying to come up with another subject.

"When did you get glasses?" Harry asked, feeling immediately that this was the stupidest suggestion for conversation he could have thought of. 

"Three years ago," Ginny shrugged, glancing down at the rimless pair in her hand. "They're only for reading, though. I don't wear them most of the time. Dad and Percy have glasses, so I suppose it's only natural for me to have them too."

Harry nodded, and just as his heart told him to change the subject to a more pressing point, Ginny burst out, "I haven't seen you for years, where have you been?", as though she'd been dying to ask him this from the start.

"I told you, I've been roaming up and down the country going from one Quidditch team to the next," he replied. "Didn't you get my letters?"

"Yeah, I got your letters," Ginny nodded slowly, "but it's not the same, is it? How come you never came to visit? You haven't been to see m- I mean, the Burrow for ages."

Harry felt his stomach knot itself guiltily. "I dunno. I was going to come and see you, but then I got accepted to the National Squad, which was so demanding, I hardly got any time to myself. Then when they elected me Captain last year, I had even more work to do and less time to do it..."

"Oh, you poor, poor thing," Ginny smiled warmly, running the tips of her fingers along his bottom jaw the way she used to at their Hogwarts dates, making Harry stare. In the past, this gesture had been Ginny's preview to Harry of an upcoming kiss. Harry loved the feeling.

"I know it's no excuse," he said quickly. "I mean, how long does it take to Apparate? But I..." Harry suddenly shook himself mentally and cut himself across. HE knew why he hadn't been to see Ginny all these years, why he'd left for so long in the first place, he just wasn't about to admit it to her yet. "...I did offer you to come with me on my travels, didn't I?"

Ginny sighed. "I know you did, but I couldn't leave Mum. She's been so weak since Ron's disappearance...."

"So you've still got no new leads?" Harry asked soberly. "No new information as to what might have happened to him?"

Ginny shook her head sadly. "Nothing. Not a scrap of news for years now. All we know is he wrote home four Decembers ago saying he'd caught his biggest catch yet and he never wrote again. When we went to his flat, all his stuff was gone and his Gringotts account had been emptied, though the goblins wouldn't tell us by whom, no sign of anything, not even Pigwidgeon. It's like he never existed."

They both stared at the carpet at their feet solemnly for a few moments, unable to speak. Then Harry suddenly raised his eyes to Ginny's.

"Ginny, do you ever think about our Hogwarts dates?" he blurted very quickly.

Ginny looked up. "Sorry?" 

"Do - do you ever think about those three years, in...in Hogwarts when, you know, we were going out?" Harry stammered, avoiding her eyes.

"Why, do you?" she asked.

"I asked you first."

Ginny gave a small, slightly embarrassed smile. "I...I do, actually."

"You- you DO?"

"I think about them a lot," Ginny's eyes were twinkling. "Those years were very special to me. You were my first boyfriend, Harry...and my last."

"Your last?" Harry repeated bemused. "I can't believe that. Why....?"

"I've been waiting for you, Harry," she smiled. "All these years, I turned down everyone who asked me out because I was waiting for you to come back one day and tell me you still loved me, and we could pick up the old threads from where we left off on the last day of your seventh year. Everyone thinks I'm out of my mind, still waiting, but I don't care…"

Harry gaped at her, unsure he'd really heard what he thought she'd said. 

"Why d'you ask?" Ginny inquired with anxiety in her tone, as though she was teetering on the brink of taking it all back, should Harry's answer differ from the one she'd been dreaming about for five years.

"Because that's exactly why I came back," said Harry quietly. 

Ginny's files carpeted the floor again as she flung her arms around his neck again. As Harry held her, he whispered, "So, how about continuing from where we left off tonight at around seven o clock tonight?"

Ginny stared at him for a moment, with mingled surprise and admiration, before her face split into the same gorgeous grin Harry had been dreaming about all these years. 

"You're on!"

Harry hesitated for a moment, then leaned forward and gave Ginny a very quick, light kiss on her lips. When he pulled away, Ginny looked like she wanted to retaliate, but thinking seven o clock would be a better time to do so, she contented herself with winking at him and whispering "See you tonight."

"Seven o clock. Be there."

" I will."

Harry walked back down the corridor feeling lighter than ever before. He jumped slightly as Ginny called him again.

"Harry!"

"Yes, Gin?"

Ginny had popped her beautiful head out of the doorway, her long hair swaying slightly. "The Department of Magical Games and Sports is upstairs, second door on the right."

Harry grinned at her. "Thanks, Gin."

She blew him a kiss in reply.

A/N Okay, a bit flimsy. It's back to the Ron/Hermione part next chapter. Please please please reveiw.


	4. Feelings Out in the Open

Chapter Four- Feelings Out in the open.

Ron rather enjoyed the week that followed. For the first time in years he had a proper bed, which was in the Grangers' very comfortable guest room. Mrs. Granger fussed over him and strongly reminded him of the way his own mother used to treat Harry and Hermione during their summer stays at the Burrow. Mr. Granger was very friendly, too, and supplied Ron with clothes from his own wardrobe, which more or less fitted him. Hermione was right : after a few large meals (very large considering Mrs. Granger kept shoving seconds and thirds down his throat at every meal), a few refreshing nights' sleep in the softest bed Ron could ever remember sleeping in, a few long, relaxing showers and baths, a haircut and shave, Ron didn't recognise his reflection the following Tuesday when he awoke. His hair was orange again, brushed in the same way he had always brushed it before it grew. His cheeks were still rather shallow from his past starvation, but they were smooth and finally free of those annoying bristles that had covered them, his eyes were visible once more as no dirty fringe hung over them, his face was clean, and Ron was beginning to think that the last four years had almost been worthwhile just to be where he was now.

Quite apart from his physical condition, Ron enjoyed being surrounded by people who cared about him, and particularly enjoyed the extra time he and Hermione were spending together. Hermione's mother kept dropping very badly-disguised hints that the two of them should start dating, (which Ron would have like to have done but didn't mention to anyone) and complaining loudly that all of her friends are grandmothers and how she'd dearly love to be one herself. Hermione didn't groan or tell her mum off for this, but merely smiled back at her, something Ron was quick to spot and wondered if this **_might_**, just **_might_** just be a good sign in his favour.....

Hermione, on her part, was a great deal happier now that she knew where Ron was and what he was doing. Her feelings for him had intensified (assuming such a thing was possible, as she'd always love him very much) over his stay with her and her urges to spill the beans on her love for him grew more and more powerful. She wasn't sure whether her mum's obvious prompting were helping or not, though she did notice Ron glanced rather hopefully at her whenever her mum brought up the subject. Hermione spent the absolute minimum time she had to at work, and seeing as she was the boss, took a fair few days off, just to spend time with Ron. 

By the following week, Hermione had taken Ron down to Diagon Alley where Ron bought his third wand, muttering apology after apology to Mr. Ollivander for ruining two of his best wands. Then they went down to the Ministry office building to plead Ron's case. Ron got a job after all, but it was far from being an Auror - he was a toilet-cleaner in the offices, which he didn't really mind. He didn't care that it paid very little, because it gave him plenty of chances to see Hermione during her coffee breaks. Even his pride wasn't hurting much, which, considering the job description, was quite remarkable. Ron also met up with Ginny on his first day at work, and it was a good ten minutes before she finally broke away from a very tight hug.

Then, one morning in November, Mr. Granger made them an offer neither Ron nor Hermione could refuse. As he read his morning newspaper at breakfast, he suddenly pointed out an article on the front page. 

"Hey!" he said. "listen to this "The long-awaited Warner Brothers Blockbuster "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" is now out in the cinemas!"

Simultaneously, Hermione and Ron spluttered on their cornflakes. 

"How do the Muggles know about Harry?" asked Hermione, shocked.

"How do they know about the Chamber of Secrets, when ninety percent of the Wizarding World has never heard of it?" said Ron, deeply amused.

Hermione's father chuckled. "Where have you two been over the past five years?" Hermione and Ron's eyes darted to meet each other's in an expression of utmost cluelessness. 

"Fine years ago, this witch from your world, her name's Rowling, wrote the first of four books about your world, starring you two and Harry," Mr. Granger explained. "one book for each of your years at school," (Hermione looked scandalized, Ron looked like he was trying hard not to laugh) "…and us Muggles loved it so much, Warner Brothers went and made two film out of it. I hear the first film was pathetic, but this one's supposed to be quite good."

"Why don't you two go and see it tonight?" Mrs. Granger suggested, planting a cauldron-sized pot of porridge in front of Ron and encouraging him to eat. "It should be nice for you two to get some time on your own…you never know what happen..."

Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron.

"Not a bad idea," Ron shrugged, trying to keep the bubbling enthusiasm out of his tone. "We'll be able to see how inaccurate their impression of Hogwarts and everything is."

"And of us," smiled Hermione. "I'll bet the girl who plays me won't have as ugly teeth as I did at the age of twelve."

It didn't occur to Ron to correct her in front of Mrs. Granger.

The day wore on maddeningly slowly for both Ron and Hermione. Ron, hardly giving an ounce of his attention to his loo-cleaning, kept dropping things into the toilets by accident, and Hermione kept having to pull herself together, to prevent herself sending several mistreated house-elves to Azkaban by mistake. Both were desperately looking forward to the evening, when, as Hermione's mother had said, anything might happen. 

At last at seven fifteen, Ron and Hermione made their way to the Warner Village Cinema and seated themselves in their places. The film turned out to be a bit of a joke. Not one of the Muggle actors looked anything like their roles did in real life (except Ginny who was almost the same, but still, not quite) and a lot of the props, like the Whomping Willow, the castle and the Forbidden Forest (or the Dark forest as it was called in the film) were completely wrong. As the film reached a scene where "Hermione" and "Harry" meet in Diagon Alley, Ron growled and Hermione said "The director must have been a H/Hr shipper."

"Sorry?" Ron inquired, raising his eyebrows at her. 

"Oh, never mind," Hermione smiled, "it's this silly site on the Muggle internet…fanfiction.net it's called…never mind."

Ron looked fascinated, but the man behind them hissed at them to shut it and the two of them feel silent, though not before Ron whispered "if only he knew he was talking to the real Ron Weasley and the real Hermione Granger!" and Hermione giggled. 

As the film wore on, Hermione's head, automatically it seemed, drooped onto Ron's shoulder and it was a while before even she realised. When she did, a voice inside her, she asked her why she was doing this, and the answer came immediately. It's ridiculous how long she'd loved Ron and it was about time he knew it. There was definitely no better time than the present, and she bit her lip, waiting anxiously and desperately to find out how he would react to such a gesture. 

Ron's first impression when he felt Hermione's head lean on his shoulder, was that she had fallen asleep. Well, he couldn't really blame her if she had, as watching a Muggle perception of his early schooldays wasn't exactly what you'd call entertaining. But as he looked down at her gorgeous face and saw her eyes open, his heart began beating like a bongo. Slowly and cautiously, Ron slid his arm around Hermione's back and shoulders. A few seconds later, he felt another surge of bravery and gently pulled her closer to him. At this, Hermione lifted up the armrest separating their seats and moved as close to Ron as she possibly could, winding her arms around him. Ron gently rubbed her shoulder with the arm that was draped over her back and took her hand. Hermione pushed her head further along Ron's shoulder nearer his head. Ron leaned his head on Hermione's and the two of them sat there in total bliss and relaxation. 

Then, just when instinct told both of them it was time for their lips to meet, Ron said, "Hermione?"

"Mm?" she replied, dreamily.

"What are we doing?"

Ron didn't know why he asking this, he should just be enjoying it, he was sure Hermione had her reasons, but on the other hand he had to know.... he had to know if this was real. He'd waited too long, been through too much to let this pass as just a spontaneous nothing. 

"I don't know, you tell me," she replied quietly, a hint of mischief in her tone.

"I…dunno, that's why I asked you," Ron shrugged, feeling immediately extremely cowardly. 

"You really have no idea whatsoever?" 

Ron felt his ears redden slightly. "Um, well, I know what I'm doing, I dunno about you…"

"Well, okay, what are **_you_** doing?" Hermione challenged.

"Erm, well, I'm putting my arm around you, aren't I?" Ron muttered, the red of his ears spreading slowly to his cheeks.

"Why?" Hermione asked calmly, and Ron was almost hurt to think that she was gaining some sort of pleasure out of teasing him like this.

"Because…..I….. am," he replied lamely. "Why, what are you doing?"

"Resting my head on your shoulder."

"How come?"

"Because I am," Hermione grinned.

Heart sinking, Ron muttered, "okay, fine," and raised his eyes back to the screen, where "_Neville_" muttered "_why is it always me?_" from the chandelier the "_pixies_" in "_Lockhart's_" class had tied him to.

Hermione gazed up into his face, which was bathed in the glow of the screen. She could tell he wasn't watching the film at all and was only using the screen as an escape hatch for his eyes to evade hers, and though his face was expressionless, she could see pain in his eyes, following their brief whispered conversation. Nervous as she was, she couldn't help but smile as she thought "right, here goes…"

"Ron," she said quietly.

"Yeah?" Ron muttered, turning his head in her general direction, though his eyes stayed firmly locked on the screen.

"I love you," Hermione said, trying hard not to sound too breathless or terrified. 

Ron's eyes snapped to their widest extent and darted to meet hers. "You what?"

"I love you," Hermione repeated and, feeling slightly braver having said it twice, continued. "I know it's…generally accepted in this macho world that in any boy-meets-girl situation, Boy makes the first move and declares his feelings, while Girl blubbers joyfully before admitting the same, but well, I've waited years to be able to weep emotionally for you and let's just say I couldn't wait any longer, so forgive me for breaking the norms, but….I love you, Ron."

Still clutching his hand, she crossed her fingers and mentally bit her lip. 

"You….love…me?" Ron repeated, in an obvious state of sheer blind disbelief. "Me, as in………me? are you sure?"

Hermione's expression changed to one of mock impatience, though her smile lingered. "Ron, I've had six years to think about it – I think I'd know by now, don't you?"

Ron's mouth remained open in incredulity, though no sound came out. He tried valiantly to jerk his vocal chords into life, though the sheer impossibility of Hermione's words kept them broken-down. 

"Well?" Hermione prompted anxiously a few silent moments later.

"Well what?" Ron heard himself say.

"Well, do feel the same way about me, or am I going to feel like a real idiot?" Hermione blurted very quickly. Ron's mind and speech juddered into startup mode. 

"Oh course I love you!" he burst out. "I've loved you forever, I - "

"How long is forever?" Hermione interrupted, and immediately felt extremely guilty for doing so.

"Well, eight years," Ron shrugged. "It's close enough, isn't it? Ever since our fifth year at Hogwarts. You've no idea how much you mean to me! I….I can't believe you feel the same…about me!" 

"Believe me, Ron, I do," Hermione smiled. "I can't believe you've loved me for longer than I've loved you and you never said anything…"

"How could I? You and Harry are my only friends in the world – I couldn't lose you just because I happened to - "

"It's okay, Ron, I wasn't accusing you…" Hermione soothed.

Ron placed the hand that wasn't clasping hers on Hermione's cheek, half expecting her to flinch.

"This s a dream," he said firmly. "It has to be – Hermione can you pinch me?"

"Oh, I think I can do better than that," Hermione grinned and engulfed him in their first kiss. Lost in their own world of bliss and deep warm affection, Ron and Hermione held onto each other like the world would end if they ever let go. The warm soft touch of their lips expressed only too well what was and had been going through their loving hearts for what was surely an eternity. They only pulled apart when the grouchy man behind them told them to get a room.

"Hi, I don't we introduced ourselves," said Ron sardonically. "This is Hermione, Hermione Granger, and I'm Ron Weasley. And you are…?"

The man grunted. "I suppose you think that's funny. I'm trying to watch the real Ron and Hermione, if you don't mind..."

"You're looking at them," Ron growled.

"Come on, let's go somewhere else," Hermione laughed, seizing Ron's arm in utmost affection.

Ron gave her a very quick kiss before they got up and, hand in hand, Hermione head back on Ron's shoulder, they left the cinema.

A/N If you think this is the end, you'd better have another think coming, although it will be if there are no reviews…hint hint!


	5. Engagement part one

Chapter Five - Engagement (part one).

That same night, Harry Apparated in the Burrow's wide, slightly weedy garden. He walked up to the front door and knocked. A moment later, George answered.

"Evening, Harry," said George brightly. "Long time no see. Come in," he added, a worryingly mischievous grin growing on his freckled face.

Harry stepped into the Burrow and looked around. It had hardly changed at all in all the years he hadn't visited it. He hadn't visited the Weasleys for almost four years, all for the same reason he went on his travels in the first place, the reason he had deliberately lost touch with them and Ginny….

A wave of cheers and a rush of handshakes flung itself at Harry as George led him into the small living room. Mr. Weasley, Fred and for some reason Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet, all got up and clapped him on the back in the warm Weasley welcome he'd missed so much. 

"Where's Percy?" was Harry's first question.

"You really are behind times, Harry," Mr. Weasley smiled. "you were touring somewhere abroad when Percy married Penelope, two years ago. We tried to send you a wedding invitation, but Errol collapsed on the job, and none of the other owls we tried could find you."

"Two years ago…" Harry muttered thoughtfully. "I must have been on Australian reserve Team."

"There you go," Mr. Weasley shrugged. "So Percy and Penelope have moved out. And these two clowns have somehow managed to get themselves engaged to these lovely ladies," he added, indicating the two ex-Gryffindor Chasers, who both beamed. 

"So," said George, with that same mischievous grin he had admitted Harry into the house with. "I take it you're here for Ginny, then?"

Harry got the same feeling he always did whenever Ginny's name was mentioned, didn't trust himself to speak on the subject in case he said anything that might embarrass himself or her and merely nodded.

"Well, she's upstairs getting ready," said Fred, his grin identical to George's. "I think you've hit a winner there, mate."

"Eighth date since last week, if I'm not mistaken," grinned Mr Weasley.

"She hardly listens to a word anyone says nowadays."

"Floating on air," added George.

"You've got her hooked, mate," grinned Fred. "Go for it!"

This was exactly what Harry was planning to do, as he had a very special agenda planned for the evening. He hardly dared thinking about it, though. When he thought of what he'll be attempting in a few hours' time, he got the feeling the giant squid had taken recent residence in his stomach.

The sound of footsteps on the wooden stairs made Harry's heart leap, but it was only Mrs. Weasley, who ran up to him and hugged him in her usual motherly way.

"Hello, Harry dear," she said. "Ginny's coming now."

Harry's jaw dropped and dizziness engulfed his senses as he caught sight of Ginny. She had always been 'the most beautiful thing Harry had ever laid his eyes on' (as he used to tell her on their Hogwarts dates) but right now she was beyond describable beauty. Her face was shining with what Harry failed to recognise as Madame Marsh's Magical Make up, her hair, which usually either fell over her shoulders or was tied in a ponytail, was swept in a gleaming copper-coloured sheet behind her neck and halfway down her back. She was wearing what looked like a cross between dress robes and some silky deep purple dress which was nowhere near as baggy as dress robes were, her rather magnificent figure quite apparent. When she flashed her gorgeous smile at him, Harry felt his knees buckle and he felt like he was about to faint. 

"Your lady awaits you," Fred grinned at Harry, who feeling completely dazed, could only nod. 

Five minutes later, they were out in the clear, slightly chilly air of the Burrow's overgrown garden. 

"Where to, guv?" Ginny smiled, in a perfect impersonation of a Muggle taxi-driver.

"Biscay How, please," Harry grinned. "Try to avoid the five o clock traffic, I'm in a hurry."

A split-second later, they both Apparated atop the rocky mound on the summit of Biscay How, a stunningly beautiful hill in the English Lake District, just outside the village of Bowness. They slid down the rocky bump and seated themselves on the wooden bench there, overlooking the majesty of Lake Windermere and its surrounding hills in the silvery-blue glow of the autumn moonlight. Harry conjured up a small picnic basket he'd prepared that afternoon and they sat there in silent bliss, Ginny's head on his shoulder, Harry's arm around her.

"Isn't this wonderful?" Harry sighed happily a few silent minutes later.

"Yeah," said Ginny, with the tiniest edge to her voice, which made Harry jerk his eyes off the countryside and glance down at her.

"You sound a bit…doubtful," Harry observed.

"Never mind, forget it," said Ginny, impatience now seeping slowly, almost inconspicuously into her tone. 

Harry now looked right into her eyes. In three years of dating her at Hogwarts, he knew that Ginny's eyes were an entire world in themselves. They held the gateway to all her emotions and would tell anyone who could read them properly exactly what was going through her heart at that moment. Harry had had three years of practice to break the codes of those eyes, and the distant, faraway look in those orbs of warm brown told him enough to make him ask, "Is something troubling you? Is it something I did?"

"It doesn't matter, Harry," Ginny muttered, "forget it."

"Ginny, this isn't going to work," Harry sighed. "I know you too well, and I know that something's bothering you and it's something to do with me. So…. are you going to tell me, or," a devilish grin grew across Harry's face, "am I going to have to tickle it out of you?" 

Without waiting for an answer, Harry removed his hand from her back and attacked her tummy in a furious wave of tickles, making her giggle hysterically as she fought to push him off her. 

"Stop it, Harry! Get off!" she laughed, and Harry's tickling commandoes slowly retreated from the battlefield.

"Never," Harry grinned, wagging a warning finger at her "mess with the Potter Secret Weapon. Nothing can stand up to it, no living force…"

"Oh, is that how you got Voldemort to disappear all those years ago?" Ginny inquired innocently. "You tickled him?"

"I'll tickle **_you_** if you don't tell me what your problem is," Harry cautioned.

"I'll tell you what my problem is - I hate you and your secret weapon," Ginny teased with a laugh. 

"Oh is that right?" Harry growled with playful malice. "Well, I love you!"

But as he moved forward to kiss her, the mischievous grin still on his face, he noticed the smile fade almost instantly from Ginny's face at his last words, and she moved her head ever so slightly to avoid the kiss. 

"What's the matter?" Harry asked seriously. "Don't you love me? Is that it?"

"Don't be silly, Harry, of course I love you," Ginny replied, the mild irritation back in her tone., as she sent her gaze over the opposite hills again. "It's just that…"

"It's just that what?"

"Well, I couldn't help thinking of the last time you and I were here together," Ginny said, very quickly and slightly uncomfortably. 

"Our last Hogwarts date," Harry remembered slowly.

Ginny nodded.

"We took you Firebolt, flew here, and spent the evening right here on this bench, with a picnic basket and everything, laughing, tickling, enjoying the view…we must have been here for hours. Then all of a sudden, out of the blue, you turned to me and said, "Ginny… I love you." And even though you used to tell me that at least three times a day for three solid years, and even though it was always special for me to hear it, this time was different. You said it with a seriousness I'd never heard before, like all of a sudden, those words had a new meaning. Then, before I could make any sense of this, you took my hand, gazed right into my eyes and said, "you know, if I was a few years older…and you were a few years older, and we were in love like we are now…I wouldn't think twice before proposing to you." "

Harry removed his arm from Ginny's back, stood up and took a few paces forward. Then he stopped, and stood staring silently at the view, hands in his pockets, his back to Ginny, apparently lost in thought. A few silent moments later, Ginny nervously prompted his attention with an almost timid, "Remember?"

"Of course I remember," said Harry quietly, his tone undeterminable, though Ginny thought she could almost categorize it under guilty regret.

"And then the following morning," Ginny continued, "you got on the Hogwarts Express for the last time, then straight off to Puddlemere United, then the Wimbourne Wasps, the Hebridian Hawks, and then…off…out into the world of foreign Quidditch teams…Australia, Israel, Canada, Norway…a million other countries…I hardly saw you since that night till last week, when we met at the Ministry. Even your letters had a guilty sort of ring to them, almost as if…you were writing against your better judgment. For five years your words were ringing in my head…even Mum and Dad started hinting that I should give up waiting for you and just find someone else…"

Harry stood stock-still. His wind-ruffled fringe was the only part of him that was moving. Ginny fell silent for a moment, as though summoning up all her courage before bursting out, "Why, Harry? Why did you leave like that? Why did you lose touch? Is it because…have you got someone else?"

Ginny fell silent again, torn between the feeling she'd said too much and the satisfaction of finally releasing the seal that had been bottling up these emotions for five years. 

For a few long moments, only the soft rustle of the bushes in the light breeze broke the silence. Then, finally, Harry spoke. 

"You never responded to…what I told you that night," Harry said quietly, almost as though he was talking to himself. "That night was the last we had together before you were going to go off to your last year of school and I would be out in the world…the prospect of a whole year apart scared me…I…I never loved you more than I did that night, and I thought…it would be a good idea to tell you that. But…when I told you exactly how I felt about you, you never said anything, never did anything…there was just a blank look in your eyes that almost said "how dare you!"…and it was then that I realised…I loved you too much. More than you could ever love me, more than was healthy for a lad of seventeen to love anyone…it was time for us to part, for me to go away and try forgetting about you, and for you to forget about me…before we both got dreadfully dreadfully hurt. I never said anything to you before I left because I knew I didn't want to leave you…..I hoped that maybe while I was out there, I'd meet someone else…someone to make me forget you, and that you'd find someone to replace me…but I wasn't really looking for anyone…

I never stopped thinking about you…I used to look at the Quaffles I saw every day and think of your hair…" Harry turned around and gazed right into her eyes. "I'd look at my broom handle and think of your eyes…sounds a little corny, I know," Harry admitted with a sheepish smile. 

"Anyway," he continued, "it was a while before I realised that this was going nowhere. I reckoned that loving you was no crime and I knew for an absolute fact that you were the only one I wanted. But as soon as I came back to England, the National Squad pinned me, and not long afterwards, they elected me Captain. I had no time to find you and slowly bring you back into my life. But I loved you, Ginny. Still do. Always will."

As Harry's little speech came to a close, Ginny's slightly stunned expression melted into a warm, gracious, affectionate smile. 

"Well, Harry, that was…..remarkable," she smiled. "I'm sorry I accused you of…"

"No, I understand, really," said Harry quickly. "That was pretty darn stupid, running away like that…"

"Yes, it was," said Ginny affectionately, standing up and coming over to him. "But you're right. Love is no crime. And you know….now that you're a few years older, and I'm a few years older…and we're in love almost like we were at Hogwarts – the only difference being that I love you more now than I did then – I wouldn't think twice about accepting a proposal from you…if that's still what you want."

"Are you serious?" Harry asked, his eyes widening, as he took her into his arms.

Ginny kissed him in reply. 

A/N Right, I'm cutting it here for the moment. Next chapter is where the two couples come together, and this whole proposal thing is settled. 

If the next chapter takes its time (which I'm afraid it may well do) please please read my new story – I love You- I love You Not. It's a story I've been planning for years, made about twenty drafts of on this site under various names, and the final version is finally up, so please please read it. 

Oh, and kindly, VERY kindly review. 

Ta!


	6. Engagement part two

Standing on a humped, wooden bridge, overlooking a large pond bathed in the silvery-blue glow of the moonlight, surrounded by trees, grass and flowers, were two figures. These two figures were oblivious to the nocturnal beauty surrounding them, as they were engulfed in a tangle of lips and arms, their eyelids closed. Both felt full of some indescribable power and passion, surging through their connecting point - their mouths - and into both hearts. 

When they drew apart, Ron gazed into Hermione's eyes, reflecting the full moon hanging above.

"You know, I can't believe we're finally doing this," he said, just to make sure they WERE doing it, and that this wasn't some extra-vivid dream. "After all the times I imagined it, I mean."

Hermione grinned and Ron's heart leapt several inches. "I can't believe we could have been doing this seven years ago."

"Maybe it's better this way," said Ron, making Hermione stare. "If we had been on these terms at Hogwarts, we might not be doing this now."

Hermione frowned quizzically. Ron explained. "Look, we never really had a clean record for arguing if you remember..."(Hermione grinned)"Firebolts, house-elves, cats, Grims, homework.... one of those arguments could have completely destroyed our relationship if we had had one at the time. Besides, we're a bit older now, so we know what we want...."

"Oh, I know what I want all right," said Hermione, grinning. She grabbed a handful of Ron's jumper and pulled him closer to her, raising her face to his. Moments later, they were tangled in part two of the kiss they had shared not a minute ago. They were heedless of the world, the setting, anything or anyone around them or who might be watching as they shifted their grips on each other's lips, tightening the kiss. They were even unaware of the two faint popping sounds behind them, announcing the Apparition of two people. 

"Oops, looks like we got our timing wrong, Gin," said an amused voice Ron recognised, but hadn't heard for four years."Maybe we'd better leave the two love-birds to it and come back later," although it was obvious from the tone in the speaker's voice that he had no intention of leaving.

Ron broke the kiss apart reluctantly and turned around. Leaning on the wooden rail of the bridge with his arm around his, Ron's, sister and a mischievous grin spread across his face was....

"Harry?!" Ron exclaimed.

"All right, mate?" Harry grinned.

Ron dashed over to him. They shook hands, they hugged, the slapped each other's back they hugged again and bombarded each other with questions.

"So, where have you been these past few years, Ron, eh?" Harry inquired.

Ron unfolded his story again. Hermione and Ginny had both heard it before, but they stopped talking to hear it again anyway. Hermione noticed that Ron had not embroided the story in any places to make it sound more tragic, or to give himself a more heroic figure and felt even closer and warmer towards him. When Ron had finished, a thoughtful frown crossed Harry's face.

"Hmmm, well, I hate to be the voice of doom, Ron, but I reckon old Malfoy was thinking of his own means of revenge," he said finally. "I don't think he was planning to leave it to the Ministry. You know what he's like."

"Yeah, I was thinking the said thing," Ron admitted. "But he's had four years to get me back and he hasn't yet, so...."

"Besides, I'll bet Malfoy expects you to be long dead anyway!" said Hermione brightly. "So why don't we get off this depressing subject and talk about something else?"

There was a moment's silence as the four minds searched for a subject to bring up, then Harry turned to Ron.

"So, after all these years, you finally decided to tell Hermione what you felt for her, eh?" he asked, grinning.

"Yep," Ron replied, smiling at Hermione. "and the funny thing is I could have done it seven years ago and got the same reaction."

"Well, I could have told you that," said Ginny.

Ron raised an eyebrow as if to ask "Well, why didn't you?" but instead said, "So, are you two love-birds still at it then? After all these years since your Hogwarts dates?"

"Why shouldn't we be?" said Ginny, beaming at Harry.

"Well, I know you got very upset when Harry didn't write to you in your last year at school," Ron replied pointedly to Ginny."Kept writing home, asking if he'd sent any letters to the Burrow by mistake...going on about how much you miss him...."

"Yeah, well we've made up for that now," said Harry quickly. "In fact, we've got a bit of news we'd like to share with you, haven't we, Gin?"

"Oh, yes."

Hermione had a feeling she knew what was coming, but still said "Well, go on. Don't keep us in suspense," very expectantly.

The was a moment's silence, then Harry burst out "We're engaged!" just as Ginny squealed "We're getting married!" flashing her engagement ring so the moonlight caught it. There were various combinations of hugs that followed this statement - Ron and Harry, Ginny and Ron, Hermione and Ginny, Harry and Hermione....

Ron slapped Harry on the back. "Well, you've picked a good partner-for-life, there, Harry," he said, then raised his voice slightly and added, "a bit of a brat sometimes, but she's okay, mostly."

Ginny stuck her tongue out at Ron, who rolled his eyes in reply.

"Have you got a date fixed for the wedding?" Hermione inquired.

"Well, no," Ginny replied slowly, "but it won't be too far away...."

"Because we can't live without each other," added Harry with a whine as he and Ginny exchanged a wistful glance. "Anyway, we'd better go and break the news to your mum and dad, Gin. Then we'll pay Sirius a visit."

"Congratulations, both of you," smiled Hermione as Harry and Ginny prepared to Disapparate.

"Thanks."

"We'll let you know when we've got a date set."

"Bye!"

Harry and Ginny vanished with two faint 'pops'.

Hermione stood in Ron's arms as she stared at the spot where her two best friends had disappeared (Ron was now, thankfully, a lot more than just a friend) and let out a soft, contented sigh.

"You know, I can't think of two people who deserve each other more than Ginny and Harry do," she said after a while.

"What about us?" Ron asked quietly, feeling so relaxed with Hermione in his arms and her head on his shoulder, he was only half-thinking about what he was saying.

"Apart from us, silly!" Hermione snapped cheerfully. "We belong together."

"Yeah, we do," Ron grinned, then added more thoughtfully, "you know, it's weird, I've known Harry for what? Twelve years now? And I've known Ginny all her life - that's about twenty two years - and I've never seen either of them so happy."

"I've never seen anyone so happy, let alone Harry and Ginny," said Hermione.

There was another long pause, then Ron heard himself ask before he'd quite realised why or what good it would do, "d'you reckon we could ever get to that? You and me?"

"Oh, I'd love to," said Hermione softly and Ron desperately tried to determine the tone in her voice. "I'd really love to."

"Yeah," he replied, semiconsciously, "me too."

Hermione snapped out of the dreamy trance she often got when being with Ron, raised her head off his shoulder, looked into his face and said, "Hang on. Did you just propose to me?"

Ron gazed unseeingly over Hermione's beautiful head, thinking. He _did_ sort of propose to her, didn't he? Stupid thing to do really, but he had done it. Well, it wasn't too late to deny all, but for some reason he didn't seem to want to. He'd loved Hermione for eight years and could easily see himself loving her till the day he drops dead. If he was honest with himself, he could think of nothing he'd want more than to marry Hermione, to devote the rest of his life to her and to share absolutely everything with her - something that had always seemed like such a far-fetched fantasy, yet now, all he had to do was to say one word and it might just happen in reality....

Ron turned back to Hermione. "Yeah, I suppose I did, in a way," he said softly, gazing affectionately into her eyes.

Hermione's eyes widened. "really? You mean you actually want me to...." but she was cut across by Ron, who had swiftly withdrawn a hand from Hermione's back and slapped himself hard across the face, shaking his head furiously, muttering "what was I _thinking_? It's stupid, why was I even....?"

"**_Ron!_**" Hermione gasped, completely taken aback by the way he was beating himself down. She grabbed his hand to stop him slapping himself any more and said more calmly, "Please tell me what you were going to say."

Ron shook his head and mumbled, "No, it's too soon, it's stupid. I don't know what I was...."

"Ron, please?"

"Lovely moon, isn't it?" said Ron, raising his eyes to the starry heavens. "Mars is bright tonight...."

"RON!"

Hermione plunged a hand into his pocket, pulled out his wand and rammed in his hand, careful to keep to tip of it pointing directly at her.

"There!" she said firmly. "Say whatever it is you've got to say and if it really is as stupid as you make it out to be, which I very much doubt, you can do a Memory Charm on me, okay?"

Ron stared at the determined look in her eyes and lowered his wand arm, appalled at the prospect of raising a wand on her of all people. Then, resigned to the worst, he sighed and said in defeated, very rushed tones, "Well, it's just that....it's just that I love you so much, and you've done so much for me, over these past few weeks and over the past four years...."

"What do you mean?" Hermione interrupted. "How could I have possibly done anything for you if I had no idea where you were?"

Ron took a deep breath and went rambling on in his flat, defeated tone, "well, you won't really understand. It's complicated, but basically the hope that some day, I'd be able to..to meet you and tell you what I felt -FEEL! - for you and the very far-fetched wish that you might have the same sort of feelings for me and maybe we could start something....that was the only thing really...kept me going over long sleety nights of sheltering under park benches and things. And I really really love you, and

I couldn't bear to lose you and" he continued in a lower, more shameful tone, "and I was sort of hoping that maybe we could make Harry and Ginny's wedding a...a..."

"Yes?" Hermione prompted gently.

"A double one" Ron muttered, sounding like he was confessing the worst crime known to mankind. He hung his head rather shamefully and stared at the ground, failing to notice the excited and joyous glimmer in Hermione's eyes as he said this.

Hermione smiled at Ron for a while, trying to find some way of putting her current feelings into words. 

Before Ron could quite realise what he was doing, his wand arm had raised itself, wand pointing at Hermione.

"_Oblivia_-"

"_Expelliarmus_," said Hermione casually, as she whipped out her wand a split-second beforehand and Disarmed Ron of his own, which had soared into the air and performed several impressive cartwheels before landing neatly in Hermione's delicate palm. Ron bowed his head again.

"Sorry about that," said Hermione, her eyes twinkling. "But I couldn't have you making me forget that. It's not every day a girl gets proposed to, you know."

Ron continued to stare at the ground and said nothing, so Hermione pressed, "Well? Don't you want an answer?"

"No," muttered Ron, now gazing blankly at the park bench to their right. "No, it's okay, Hermione, I think I can guess the answer and thank you very very much for everything you've done for me and thank your parents for putting me up and everything, but maybe it's time I went home, and I'll probably see you at work on Monday and then we...."

"Yes," Hermione interrupted suddenly. 

Ron's eyes snapped onto hers. "What do you mean, 'yes?' Yes what?"

"Yes, I'll marry you," Hermione smiled.

Ron's mouth fell open as he stared at her, the he shook his head and said "No. No you won't. Believe me, Hermione, you don't want to marry me...."

"Why not?" she inquired in a innocently puzzled tone. "I love you and...."

"I know you do," said Ron, suddenly very serious. "And I love you, too and that's why I can't bear to see you miserable...."

Hermione started to laugh. "Miserable? Don't be silly, Ron, why on earth would I be miserable if I married you?"

Ron took a deep breath and burst out "well, think about it! What have I got to offer you? I'm a toilet cleaner! I wouldn't even be that if it weren't for you! I've got nothing! How am I supposed to support you? To insure that you've got...."

Hermione's astonishing smile broadened. "Ron," she said gently, "I couldn't care less what your job is or how much or little money you've got. If we get married - and I'm all for the idea, I really am - it'll be because we love each other, okay? And besides, you're not going to be a toilet cleaner for long. I promise you, we'll get your job back at the Ministry and you're going to go back to being the best Auror since Moody, and you're going to capture Malfoy and get him back for everything he did.

All we've got to do is prove to the Ministry that you've still got what it takes and that you were innocent. And until you get your job back, I'll support you. We're in this together. And I'll tell you this, I'd marry you if it meant we both had to spend the rest of our lives living in that dingy alleyway off Victoria Street. I love you, Ron, you know I do."

Ron gaped at her, his mouth hanging open. After a long silence, where Ron had tried several ways of trying to express the things going on in his head, he gave a small sheepish smile and said, very quietly, "So, um, are, uh, are we on then?"

Hermione's gorgeous smile widened. "Here's your answer, Ron. Take it any way you want to," then she leaned forward and slowly pulled him into another kiss, except this time, she took a daring step forward and jerked her previously stationary tongue into life as it slid slowly across the border between the two mouths and into Ron's. Ron was taken aback at first, but as he tried to retaliate, Hermione, feeling this was going a bit too fast after all, pulled apart and whispered, "Save it for the honeymoon. And, yes, we WILL get there," she added, reading the look on Ron's face.

Ron could only nod, feeling rather stupid for not having anything to say or do on the subject. 

"So, now what?" Hermione asked, biting her lip in an nervously excited sort of way. 

"Well, should, uh, should we go and see if we can sort this whole double-wedding thing out with Harry and Ginny? I mean if it's okay and if we can fix a date for it or, you know...." Ron suggested, wishing he could have thought of a different answer.

"Yeah, okay!" said Hermione brightly. "I think it's a wonderful idea, three best friends getting married on the same day."

"I surprise myself sometimes," Ron shrugged, grinning.

A/N Right, that was all the mushy stuff. It gets a lot more interesting in the next chapter. Less mush, more action! Not that there's anything wrong with mush....

Keep reading and PLEASE keep reviewing!


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